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The Rift (Reboot)



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Thu Nov 15, 2018 10:02 pm
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Mageheart says...



Odris felt Maahes tense beside him, and he withheld the urge to give a little, nervous smile at the gesture - the spirit had noticed the change in languages. It wasn't something that normally was easy to pick up on, but the change in dialect made the difference clear to both of them.

And, thanks to both having been through stargates in recent times, they could clearly understand the conversation occurring only a short distance away. The conversation didn't last long, but it still made worry blossom in Odris's heart. Maahes's too, if the tensing was anything to go off of.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, too," Odris said with a slight bow of the head; Maahes just continued to cling to him and watch Aurick warily.
mage

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roleplaying is my platonic love language.

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Sat Nov 17, 2018 3:57 pm
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Featherstone says...



Aurick dipped his head and glanced back at Kratzer, cuffing him in the shoulder teasingly. "What's gotten into you, boy? Did something happen in the last few hours I need to know about?"

"The last few..." his brow furrowed. What kind of timeline was this?

"Oui, idiot, isn't that what I said? You seemed perfectly fine then."

For once in his life, the vampire was at a complete loss for words. A part of him wanted to tell Aurick the truth - that he'd been dead for decades. But the other didn't want to ruin this. Change this. It wanted things to be as they'd been so long ago, with him and Aurick and their band of outlaws.

His gaze momentarily went towards the window, but he quickly looked away as he found the form of the silver-masked figure standing there.

"I...it's...nothing," he shook his head.

"Yeah, right," Aurick said, obviously not believing him, but letting him choose silence instead. The man flopped down in the nearest chair and kicked up his feet. "So, how'd you all find yourselves here, then?"
"All that is gold does not glitter,
Not all those who wander are lost;
The old that is strong does not wither,
Deep roots are not reached by the frost."


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Sun Nov 18, 2018 12:20 pm
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Mageheart says...



Even though Maahes would have likely been mortified that he had grabbed onto Odris, the young spirit still clung to the Alteran as the conversation progressed. Odris didn't blame him. Kratzer was acting out of the ordinary, and something about the newcomer rubbed him the wrong way.

"It's because we were all running and scared," Maahes said, peeking out over Odris's arm. "I was running away, and Odris was trying to find me while running away from a mean politician."
mage

[ she/her, but in a boy kinda way ]

roleplaying is my platonic love language.

queer and here.





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Sun Nov 18, 2018 3:05 pm
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Featherstone says...



"The law was after me," Kratzer said. "I'd assume the same for yourself, unless you didn't manage to completely clear the den."

"Nonsense, I always completely clear the den," Aurick answered. "But if that's the why, then what, pray tell, is the how?"
"All that is gold does not glitter,
Not all those who wander are lost;
The old that is strong does not wither,
Deep roots are not reached by the frost."


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Tue Nov 20, 2018 5:31 am
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soundofmind says...



James leaned back in his seat, observing Kratzer's new friend with a neutral gaze. "Magic. The kind that apparently pulls you out of time and space, brings you here, and makes you hallucinate some of the things or people you were running from in the first place. So I don't know if this is a safe haven or some kind of mind game, but at the very least, our hallucinations cannot physically harm us."
Pants are an illusion. And so is death.






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Tue Nov 20, 2018 6:15 am
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Featherstone says...



"Magic?" he scoffed, shaking his head. "I'm sorry, sir, but I daresay that I find that quite a...strange and unlikely explanation for all of this."

"It's true," Kratzer said. "Weird, I know, but..." But if it weren't true, they wouldn't be talking. If it weren't true, he wouldn't be seeing Boomslang out of that window. If it weren't true...He dropped his gaze for a second, needing the moment to compose himself. He was glad Aurick had taught him to lie so well. It'd saved his life many times over, and now...now it kept him from having to face his mentor with the truth.
"All that is gold does not glitter,
Not all those who wander are lost;
The old that is strong does not wither,
Deep roots are not reached by the frost."


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Tue Nov 20, 2018 10:23 am
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Mageheart says...



"It's magic!" Maahes confirmed, peeking out a little more from around Odris. He look Aurick right in the eye. "It's got to be. There's not fancy technology that could have brought us here!"
mage

[ she/her, but in a boy kinda way ]

roleplaying is my platonic love language.

queer and here.





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Tue Nov 20, 2018 2:59 pm
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Featherstone says...



He looked between Kratzer, James, Odris, and Maahes, trying to figure out what he thought of all of this. It did seem to be the only explanation, but...magic? That was for witches and crazies. And...vampires, but in all his years of hunting, he'd never met one that could do anything like this.

Slowly, Aurick nodded. "Alright. Alright, I'll agree it's magic, but...how do we get out?"
"All that is gold does not glitter,
Not all those who wander are lost;
The old that is strong does not wither,
Deep roots are not reached by the frost."


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Fri Nov 23, 2018 11:59 am
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Mageheart says...



Odris, who had been there for just about the same amount of time that Aurick had, was unable to give an answer. But Maahes was very eager to give one, having finally warmed up to Aurick to the point where he had wiggled out of Odris's grip and gone rushing over to where Aurick and Kratzer were. "We don't know!" Maahes earnestly told him. "We were trying to figure out, but then we got distracted by all of the illusions. And Odris and you, but neither of you are illusions."

He hesitated, then poked Aurick just to be on the safe side. Yup, the man was definitely real! He gave a nod to himself, then scooted over to where Kratzer was. He had noticed something about him earlier and had forgotten to mention it, but now that his mind was on him.

"Kratzer?" he asked, tilting his head ever so slightly to the side. "I saw you had fangs earlier. Are you a vampire, like in the stories Odris tells me before dismissing me every night?"

"Maahes-" Odris tried to interrupt, but Maahes was too interested in the possibility of Kratzer being a vampire to really be listening to his summoner.

Maahes let out a gasp, and instinctively grabbed onto his guise's neck. Eyes alight, he asked, "What if you drank my blood, Kratzer? Then what would happen? Can you even drink it? It's not like yours." Another gasp. "Can we try it? Please? I want to see what would happen!"
mage

[ she/her, but in a boy kinda way ]

roleplaying is my platonic love language.

queer and here.





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Fri Nov 23, 2018 12:40 pm
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Featherstone says...



Instead of immediately answering Maahes he looked up at Aurick, whose eyes widened as he put the pieces together. There wasn't a vampire in the general vicinity like he'd thought. No, Engel was the vampire. His boy. It made sense: the nervousness, the paleness, the scars. But...of all the people...to be turned into a monster...

Kratzer was on his feet and had his hand on his pistol before Aurick even had the time to stand, moving with a speed that shouldn't have been possible. That was all he needed to confirm it.

His gun was trained on the vampire and they stood there, at a standstill. Aurick couldn't kill him and Kratzer wasn't willing to wield a killing blow on his opponent. So they stood, weapons drawn, in silence, trying to calculate the other's first move.

"So you're the vamp," Aurick said softly. "Of all the people...in all the years...Anyone that could've been turned into a monster. And it was you. My only son."

"Idea. What if we, say, put the guns down and don't shoot each other? Please?" Kratzer suggested, fighting hard to keep his voice even and the tears down. He could feel the pressure in his chest building up. For the first time, to see Aurick again...to have him see him like...like this. If he knew everything, if he knew what his apprentice had done...

My only son.

The words rang in his ears and he felt the tears rise, standing in his eyes. He fought to keep them from rolling down his face. Not now. Lord, not now...
"All that is gold does not glitter,
Not all those who wander are lost;
The old that is strong does not wither,
Deep roots are not reached by the frost."


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Fri Nov 23, 2018 1:02 pm
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Mageheart says...



Maahes stiffened.

By this point, Odris had already gotten off of the bed. He was going to try getting Maahes out of the way of any stray bullets that might fly, and try to be as diplomatic as possible to avoid the conflict in the first place, but Maahes was already trying to stop a fight from breaking out - though Odris suspected that would only be a side effect of Maahes's outburst.

The little spirit's lip started to quiver. He stepped between the two men and looked up at Aurick, eyes moist like he wanted to cry but couldn't. "Monsters aren't bad!" he told him, lips still quivering as he held his arms out to protect Kratzer. Odris felt a pang of pity when he realized why Maahes was getting so offended; he felt like the use of the word was an attack on him. "It's not-It's not nice to judge a book by its cover! Kratzer's really, really nice! When I wanted to run off earlier, he tried to stop me because he was worried I wouldn't be able to handle myself - and I definitely would have, but he was still trying to protect me!"

He looked right into Aurick's eyes. "You said Kratzer's your son! If you-If you're really his dad, then you wouldn't care that he's a vampire!" His face fell, and his gaze dropped down to the ground. "At least you're lucky enough to have family like that..."

Odris stared at Maahes.
mage

[ she/her, but in a boy kinda way ]

roleplaying is my platonic love language.

queer and here.





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Fri Nov 23, 2018 1:11 pm
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Featherstone says...



Kratzer dropped the gun and stepped back, putting his hands in the air. He couldn't do this. "That's it. You want to shoot me? Shoot me. Fickin' do it. I'm sick of fighting the people I care about," he said with a shake of his head, voice wavering.

Aurick looked between the boy and the assassin standing behind him. "Get out of the way, lad, you don't have any real understanding of what he is." His gun clicked as he cocked it.

Kratzer could hear his heart pounding in his ears, the rush of blood growing louder and drowning it all out in response to the danger. Everything came into sharp focus - the glint of the gun, the slow-motion movement of Aurick's thumb on the hammer, the sharp scent of the beings in the room with him except for Maahes. And, with it, came the instinct. The wild, unbridled urge to fight and to kill.

The thing that made him a monster.

His eyes flashed with that metallic hue but he didn't move. He'd been doing this too long to let his instinct take ahold now.
"All that is gold does not glitter,
Not all those who wander are lost;
The old that is strong does not wither,
Deep roots are not reached by the frost."


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Fri Nov 23, 2018 1:30 pm
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Mageheart says...



Odris went to grab Maahes by the arm, but came to an awkward stop a foot away when he realized that Maahes had no intentions of moving in the near future. "I know what a vampire is," he said, crossing his arms when he seemed to understand that sticking them out wasn't going to do anything. He glared up at Aurick; Odris knew he hated being underestimated. "I know that vampires have to suck blood, and that they become vampires by other vampires biting their necks!"

He reached a hand up and tapped the side of his neck.

"But I know that's not really a choice!" he added, quivering lips quickly becoming a frown instead. "And I know that even if Kratzer had wanted to be a vampire, he doesn't want to be one now! A mean vampire wouldn't want to be kind to me, and he wouldn't be holding back right now! If he really wanted to harm you, he would have already done it. But he hasn't! And you-you're being really cruel by not accepting him, Aurick!"
mage

[ she/her, but in a boy kinda way ]

roleplaying is my platonic love language.

queer and here.





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Sat Nov 24, 2018 1:10 am
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Featherstone says...



Spoiler! :
The enspoilered part is a flashback which is a bit long and not necessary for the actions of the post, but I had fun with it and thought it added to Aurick a bit so I wrote it anyways. You don't need to read it though, if you don't want to, though it will flow a bit more smoothly if you do!


The man looked first at Maahes, then at Kratzer, his finger still tense on the trigger despite is hesitance to fire.

Spoiler! :

Ice made the cobblestone streets slick under his feet and his horse's freshly-shod hooves, a brisk wind biting at him even through his thick fur coat. The sky was gray overhead with nary a ray of sunshine to dream of. Passers-by kept their heads down and their cloaks pulled tightly over them to ward away the cold, though the beggars and homeless that found refuge in the alleyways weren't so lucky. Several sat next to the road in the hopes of getting some spare coin or heel of stale bread. Most were hunched and their eyes were dead, absent, resigned in the cold and the muck.

The pale blue gaze of a boy who couldn't have been older than twelve caught his eye. The child already had a nasty scar across his face and a defiant, if somewhat conflicted and pained countenance, as though he was daring anyone to get in his way. He'd made it this far - he'd be damned if he couldn't get through whatever was thrown at him next, and if he failed, so be it. He had nothing else to lose.

Aurick slowed and his horse came to a stop beside him. The skinny lad pushed himself to his feet, extending his hand and asking for spare resources in broken French, the language alien on his tongue and nearly unintelligible due to the thick Prussian accent. It was unlikely he'd eaten in days, and if the blue hue of the lad's lips were anything to judge by, he was very cold - if snow came in he was dead, more likely than not. There wasn't any meat on his bones to keep him warm. That much was certain.

And yet, he'd made it this far.

Aurick reached into his cloak and pulled out a wrapped half-loaf of bread he'd been saving for his evening meal and handed it to the kid, who took it, and as he thanked him, Aurick felt the slightest movement on his belt. The boy must've realized that he'd been caught at the same moment, for he jerked away, only to be seized in Aurick's fingers clasped around his wrist. A moment later and his arm was behind his back and he was shoved to the ground.

It should've been over then. But desperate times called for desperate measures - either that or the kid was just plain stupid, because instead of surrendering and begging for mercy, he dug his heel into Aurick's boot and twisted to sink his teeth into the man's arm. It took a second hand on the back of the boy's neck to pin him sufficiently. He wasn't strong but he sure as hell was scrappy and if his ferocity and his scar was anything to judge by, this wasn't his first rodeo.

"Tryin' to steal from me, are we?" he grunted in French. "That's hardly a way to repay a benefactor."

The boy growled at him and continued to struggle, unable to understand most of his words.

"This game can go both ways, lad," he continued, switching to Prussian and grabbing the rosary on the kid's neck, pulling it off and releasing him. The look in the boy's gaze flashed with unbridled fury to cover the pain so inherent in his manner. He leapt for it but was unable to reach.

"Give it back!" he cried as Aurick lifted his arm up to keep it out of his grasp.

"You hungry, boy?"

He stopped and his eyes narrowed suspiciously. "Well, I ain't fickin' been eatin' like a king, but I ain't takin' nothin' from-"

"Not even a warm dinner?"

His eyes widened in surprise and he fell silent instantly, gaze still focused on the rosary.

"What's your name, boy?"

"Engel."

"Engel who?"

"Doesn't matter anymore. I'm the only one left," he growled.

Aurick paused, studying the child. He could use an extra pair of hands and a spirit like this. "I'll tell you what. You'll come with me and I'll feed you, and, if you're a good boy, I'll give you this back," he said, waving the rosary. "Deal?"

He hesitated. The suspicion was clear - he wasn't used to such generousity and so naturally he was unsure of what the true motive was when it was finally offered. Hunger won out over caution, however, and he nodded once...


His mind flashed back to the hours spent alongside the once-kit that now stood in front of him, a full-grown man. A vampire. The days sparring in the snow, the drinks around the fire, the moments of sincerity that were so valued and so rare. The blood that Engel had sacrificed in his mentor's stead. The loyalty. The bravery. The fire. The intelligence. The honor.

That spirit still watched him from under the Prussian's scarred brow. It'd changed - it was more haunted, more subdued, more jaded than it had been even then. But the gun on the ground in front of him and his empty hands in the air were proof of his loyalty and his honor and his integrity. All those things Aurick had prayed one of his students would have.

Despite it all, from the new scars to the metallic eyes, Maahes had a point: it was still his boy. And the fact was, vampire or otherwise, he did have control of his demon. The fact that he was facing his mentor and a loaded gun without moving and with such solidarity was proof enough of that. Aurick had killed more people than he could count. Was Engel really any worse?

Ever so slowly, Aurick lowered the hammer and holstered his gun, dipping his head and extending his hand to his apprentice past Maahes.

"You're right," he said simply to the boy at Engel's side before he turned to his student. "Lord knows we've all changed for the worse. You're no different than I. Let's start again, shall we, my boy?"

The vampire regarded him for a moment with that same guarded gaze he'd used so long ago when Aurick had offered him a meal for the first time. Then, ever so slowly, he took his hand and nodded. "Ja. Alright," he agreed. "Let's."
"All that is gold does not glitter,
Not all those who wander are lost;
The old that is strong does not wither,
Deep roots are not reached by the frost."


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Sat Nov 24, 2018 3:56 am
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Lael says...



Heartwarming, thought Hali, only slightly dryly. Although he hadn't even gotten the opportunity to introduce himself yet, he figured he really needed to do anything he could to contribute to finding out how to leave this place. With a language barrier and not being completely used to their mannerisms, it never really felt like he exactly belonged to this group of misfits, all of whom were more humanlike than he felt he'd ever be.

He looked across the room and noticed for the first time a mirror hanging on the wall. To his surprise, the reflected face he saw there was not of a pale-skinned, blue-haired human, but that of a sea dragon with slightly curved horns and gleaming, iridescent scales of different shades of blue. Was this some sort of strange 'truth-seeing' mirror?

With this discovery, he took a quick peek at the window again, but looked away even faster, clenching his fists. He's still there.

Spoiler! :
Just thought adding even more stuff would be fun. Yeah.
"And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus."
Philippians 4:7








Work expands to fill the time available for its completion.
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